linkedin client-attraction & lead-generation strategies

LinkedInClient-Attraction Strategies

Presented by: E.G. Sebastian www.getMoreClientsAcademy.com

Social Media Marketing Strategies

Why Should You Use Social Media?

www.myCoachingCenter.comTraining / Resources / Exposure

When used correctly, you can reach 100,000s of millions of prospects

through social media.


Giving your message a viral “slant” helps – your

connections will share with their connections… who in turn

will share it with their connections…


Here are some tips to help your message become viral:

Funny, shocking, entertaining, controversial

Research based – provides important data

News based – provides info that most probably want to know or should know

Thought provoking Stirs positive (or negative) emotions


While it will be great to send out a viral video – or other type of viral message - every day, creating a viral campaign takes skill and brains… well.., skills… and luck


Whenever you see a message or video that went viral, try to break it down into elements and find out why it went viral – see if you can duplicate those elements in your own messages…


Today we’ll focus on proven social media strategies…


Don’t get lost in the social media “sea” – pick one and get better and better at it daily… Study it… work it… see who does a great job at it and duplicate it… develop a system.


Here are the top 5 Social Media platforms that can bring best results for your business:

LinkedIn FaceBook Fan Pages (with opt-in landing page)

Twitter YouTube Pinterest


I use primarily LinkedIn:

- Group with 8000+ members- Member in 50 targeted groups (where my ideal

clients hang out)- Send out valuable info to most groups several

times per week- Answer group members (prospects) questions

(stay visible, raise trust/know/like factor)- Grow # of subscribers by 100+/week- Connect weekly with new (and existing)

prospects


Today we’ll focus primarily on LinkedIn, though you can ask questions about any of them (put questions in the comments section below, if listening to the recording)


Use LinkedIn to…

Meet other like-minded (business) people

Use LI Groups to discuss business strategies

Ask for help for your most burning (business-related) questions

Most importantly:

Find prospects & develop a relationship with them

Keep your prospects engaged with value content

"Ask” for prospects’ business - mention some of your services or products at the end of your value-driven content (article, video, checklists, blog post, etc).


Let’s dive into it, and let’s get you some new prospects and clients through LinkedIn…


LinkedInClient-Attraction Strategies

Presented by: E.G. Sebastian www.getMoreClientsAcademy.com

Social Media Marketing Strategies


Create a Client/Niche-Friendly Profile

• If you haven’t done so, go to http://www.LinkedIn.comand create a profile. Make sure that your profile contains the following elements:

http://www.linkedin.com/


a. A professional – or great looking – pictureMake sure that the picture is of appropriate resolution (it should not be blurry) and as much as possible you should pick a picture whereyou smile (for some reason most of us feel safer developing relationships with people who have a smiling profile picture).


b. A customer benefit-driven profile description

Instead of listing a description of your credentials and accomplishments, focus your description on how you can help your clients. When a prospect reads your profile, they should whack themselves on the forehead and exclaim – “This is exactly what I was looking for!”


For example, if you are a Publishing Coach: “I work with authors who want to make their books a bestseller. I’ve been helping people from all walks of life transform their books into a client-generation tool and a source of repeat highly paid speaking engagements…”

Your whole profile should be all about how can you help me, the prospect.

Most authors – this person’s target market – will instantly want to connect with this person...


Think how will your ideal client benefit from your services and create a profile description basedon that… (feel free to pass it by me, I’ll be glad to give you some feedback – support[at]egSebastian[dot]com – the quickest way to connect with me is on LinkedIn)

mailto:[email protected]


c. As you create your profile, try to include keywords related to your niche. For example, if you are a relationship coach, make sure the term “relationship coach,” “relationship coaching,” and “relationship development” are included in your profile description as often as possible, WITHOUT making it sound weird.

I, for example, by following this strategy, I come up on the first two pages for several keywords; for example for the terms Conflict Management, Workplace Bullying, or Leadership Development, I come up on the first page (is that cool or is that super cool?)


Do a search for your keywords and see who comes up on the first page – get inspired by how they describe their business.


This will get you started. Go ahead, create that LinkedIn profile; or if you have one, optimize it as described in points b. and c. above…


Once you create your profile the way described earlier, you’ll start showing up in search results on the first page, and hopefully on the top of the page…

You can keep tweaking your profile, including more of your keywords, till you show up on top of the search engines.

Here’s how this strategy helped me:


c. As you create your profile, try to include keywords related to your niche. For example, if you are a relationship coach, make sure the term “relationship coach,” “relationship coaching,” and “relationship development” are included in your profile description as often as possible, WITHOUT making it sound weird.

I, for example, by following this strategy, I come up on the first two pages for several keywords; for example for the terms Conflict Management, Workplace Bullying, or Leadership Development, I come up on the first page (is that cool or is that super cool?)


Do a search for your keywords and see who comes up on the first page – get inspired by how they describe their business.


This will get you started. Go ahead, create that LinkedIn profile; or if you have one, optimize it as described in points b. and c. above…


Once you create your profile the way described earlier, you’ll start showing up in search results on the first page, and hopefully on the top of the page…

You can keep tweaking your profile, including more of your keywords, till you show up on top of the search engines.

Here’s how this strategy helped me:


How would it help your efforts to get more clients – and grow your credibility – if you consistently came up on the first page of search results?


Make sure to implement the above tips step by step in order to get similar results (again, having a clear niche will help you tremendously in accomplishing this – even getting better results than me)


How to Get Warm & Hot Prospects through

LinkedIn


Join the Groups where Your Prospects Hang Out…

Go to www.LinkedIn.com and click on “Groups” on the navigation bar (top of page, under the LinkedIn logo). Once the new page comes up you’ll have a new sub-navigation bar (Groups You’ve Joined / Following / Groups You May Like / Group Directory / Create a Group)



On the top, right – under your name

– there is a search box, which at this

point should be set to “Groups” automatically (since you clicked on “Groups” – if it’s not, click on the drop-down menu and choose Groups)

…in that search box type in keywords that relate to your ideal client (having a clear niche and target market definitely helps ).


Carefully examine the groups that come up. Let’s take for example if we search for the term “leadership,” today I got 11,244 results.

Notice that they are listed in order of which groups have the most members (most groups on the first page have between 15,000 to 50,000 members).


Read the description of the groups with the largest number of members.

Your goal is to join the groups that seem to have your prospects, while also having large number of members… Ideally, 10,000 or more,

For very specialized groups, such as parenting, coaching, and some others, join the groups that have the largest #s of members – often in the high hundreds or 1000+ -- MAKE SURE THERE’S ACTIVITY IN THE GROUP!


• Join the maximum # of groups you can join


• Most groups will need to approve your membership, which can take anywhere from a minute to a month (usually in a day or two you’ll get approved for most groups.


• Some of the groups are open to be visited by anyone. When you hit the “Join Group” button, you’ll either get a message that says “Your Request To Join this Group is Pending” (or some similar message) or you’ll be taken directly to the group (if it’s an open group); in which case, you are free to browse the posts. If this is your target market, you’ll see people discussingissues that you have solutions to. Chime in to their discussions (at this point you can’t post your own discussion, but you can comment on others’ discussions).


For example, I recently joined a consulting group and even though I was not allowed to post my own discussion yet, I noticed a discussion thread that read “How do you differentiate yourself from the competition?”Interestingly enough (seriously) just that morning I wrote a post on How to Stand Out the Crowd / How to be the Obvious Choice for Your Prospects (http://yoursuccesschecklists.com/make-yourself-the-obvious-choice/) – now that’s synchronicity at its best – so I wrote a few comments and directed the readers to read more at my blog…

http://yoursuccesschecklists.com/make-yourself-the-obvious-choice/

http://yoursuccesschecklists.com/make-yourself-the-obvious-choice/


LinkedIn Strategies - Part 2

How to Build Your Tribe of “1000” Followers Using LinkedIn


The Concept of “1000 True Followers”

A gentleman named Kevin Kelly came up with the concept of building a following of 1000 true fans; the concept being that there anyone can build a following of 1, 10, 100, 1000 “true” fans – individuals who totally like what you are providing (your sevices, products, etc) and one should be able to make a comfortable living by developing a relationship with your fans (through teleclasses, webinars, newsletter, mailings, contests, etc).


The original concept of 1000 True Fans was developed for artists, authors, etc.; the same concept is applied daily by thousands of successful businesses


Seth Godin, the author of Tribes, and mega successful entrepreneur, embraced the idea and has been promoting the concept of “Building a Tribe of 1000 True Followers” as a way to build a prosperous business…


• How does all this relate to us? What does this have to do with LinkedIn groups?


By now you are a member of a couple of groups… That is, if you followed through with the last few assignments…And why wouldn’t have followed through, right? After all, you are dead serious about growing a following and transforming some of your followers into clients…


So let’s explore some ways on how to capitalize on your membership in the groups you joined

And we’ll keep it simple and create a do’s and don’ts list that will ensure that you nurture relationships and not become viewed as a (constantly promoting) pest


5 Things to Avoid when Starting a Discussion:

In a moment we’ll explore how to start building your list of 1000 True Followers – or a list of qualified prospects; but first let’s go over the few activities that you should avoid within a group…


1. Don’t just post the name of your site and a link to your site’s Home Page, your Services page, or your About page – it’s annoying and your posts will be deleted… and if you keep doing it, you can be banned from the group


2. Don’t post links to paid teleclasses, webinars, or live events (most group managers allow posts/links to free teleclasses, webinars, or live events…)


3. Don’t post topics that do not relate or benefit the group in some way


4. Don’t start more than 2 to 3 discussionsa day (per group – ideally, start one good discussion)

If you do the first three actions mentioned earlier, you’ll be viewed as a pest by many of your group members AND it is very likely that the moderator will a) put you on the moderation list – your post will not show until he or she’ll approve them, or b) you’ll be banned from the group


5. Don’t use too salesy language –Focus instead on providing value…

The more value you provide… the more visible you are… the more you’ll be recognized as a Thought Leader… and the more your group members will start trusting you…


As some of you know, I’m the moderator of the Coaches’ Support Group [on LinkedIn4000+ members], and I regularly have a few members who repeatedly – even after chatting with them about it – keep on posting links to their “About Joe Doe” page or to their paid services pages. All of these members are on my moderation list and their posts go directly into the Promotion section.You don’t want your posts to be sent into the Promotions section as very few people read that section…


So why should anyone join these groups if

can’t promote your services… or whatever you want?

You CAN promote your paid services through the groups, but do it wisely…


5 Ways to Engage Group Members, Gain Their Trust, and Transform them into Dedicated

Followers:


1. Do post links to articles or videos that provide great value to your prospects. The most effective ones are the ones with titles such as “The 5 Secrets to…” or “3 Easy Shortcuts to…” or “7 Ways to Improve…” (I highly recommend purchasing – or borrowing form your locallibrary – the book Phrases that Sell – You could also do a search online for power phrases – tweak those as titles for your articles)


The “Slap on the Forehead” Effect

Each of the titles you post should be worded in a way that would result in the reader whacking themselves in the forehead and exclaim “This is sooo cool – this is exactly what I was looking for”

Understand what thoughts/worries keep them up at night, and address those worries

Again, use powerful titles – using headline copy-writing techniques – your title should literally force the ideal client click on the link to find out what you have to say next…


1B !!! This is an important one !!!Do put a byline under your articles, videos, Top 10 Tips…, etc. that lead to your services or opt-in offers. It could be as simple as “Robin Smith is a Retirement Coach – download her “Life Starts After Retirement” 155 page eBook at www.LifeAfterRetirment,com”

http://www.lifeafterretirment,com/


1C Do have an irresistible offer on your page where your visitors will get once they click on the link you posted in the LI group.

I’ve been getting in average about 30 to 50 subscribers a day to this with this method alone… It’s not a stellar number, but for a little guy like me, that’s really super!

Your opt-in rate will go up if you include a little twitter and some FaceBook promotion – in my case they are both set on posting my blog posts and youtube videos automatically… Post some youtube videos too for even more opt-ins…


2. Do post regularly replies to others’ posts. If it’s a question and you have answers, share with the group. If you don’t have an answer but it’s something that you’d also really love to know, put there some remarks such as “Shirley, I’ve been trying to figure that out myself, I hope we’ll get some good input from some of the other group members.”


LinkedIn can at times feel like a lonely place when no one answers your questions or no one comments on your posts. Except if we’d stop just posting and get involved in more conversations, then we’d have less “lonely” moments in cyberspace.


Lead by example: DO post comments to others’ discussions, questions, etc.

The more you comment on others posts, the more you’ll be recognized and hopefully liked and/or respected. And that’s what you want – you want your group members to start knowing you, so when they’ll see an offer from you they’ll trust you enough to invest in your product or service.


3. Occasionally post a cool quote that you found and ask the group’s opinion on it; or just leave it to speak for itself…

(don’t overdo this!)


4. Do post once in a while interesting articles (not written by you) that you ran into AND it relates to the purpose of the group

* - As much as possible don’t post links to articles of your competitors


5. Do offer your help whenever possible. You joined this group because your target market hangs out here…So whenever you got a chance to shine, SHINE!Either give the solution there in the forum, or – ideally - refer them to an article on your website (even if you just made it up a few minutes earlier); or ask them to contact you privately…


LinkedIn Strategies - Part 3

Start Your Own Group

long-term strategy…


Today we’ll discuss perhaps the most powerful* client attraction strategy on LinkedIn; one that has the potential for the greatest rewards of your time investment:

Consider starting a group!

* - “Powerful” strategy but need some “luck”


Having your own group has several benefits:

It’s the most powerful way to developing a following… and the trust of your ideal clients

Instantly positions you as the expert to your group members

Can send out regular communication to your group members (which after a few years can be in the thousands or even 100 thousand+ members)


It’s one of the most effective ways to develop a great relationship with your “followers” (and work towards growing your “Tribe of 1000 True Followers)


You perhaps think “Why would anyone join my group?” or “Who the heck am I to start a group?” or a dozen of other self-limiting thoughts. I say to that “Hush those voices and just do it!”

I started four groups and I gave up on two of them after about 2 years. I did have a few hundred members in each of them, but there was zero activity in them; however, one of the four groups turned out to be a hot one: The Coaches’ Support Group (4000 members and growing by about 200 members per month)


In Worse Case…

No one joins your group

You wasted 20 minutes of your time setting up the group


In Best Case…

Your group grows to a few hundred of members… or few thousands… (or hundreds of thousands…)

You become known as “the go-to-guy” in your niche by your group members…

You put on webinars, with a sales twist, to your group members and attract a ton of repeat customers


So…, in my case, success with one out of four groups is not too bad


So Let’s Build a Group…!


• Decide who do you want to serve/attract

… your Target Market, of course


Decide on a name for your group

For example, if your ideal clients are small business owners, start a group called “Small Business Owners’ Support Group” (hey, that similar title worked for me – maybe it will work for you too); or “Small Business Owners’ in Search of Life-Balance”; name it whatever describes your target market and potentially your niche as well (“life-balance” coaching in our last example).

The Maker or Breaker of Your Group…


Go to www.LinkedIn.com and click on “Groups” on the navigation bar

Click on “Create a Group” and fill out the info it asks for

To create a logo, use a professional to create it for you, or use an online logo-creator (e.g. www.LogoMaker.com or www.VistaPrint.com); or create a large logo in PowerPoint (as large as your page) and then click on Save As, then on the 2nd dropdown in the Save As box, click on Save As Jpeg, then click on the Save As button… then on the Save This Slide Only…

Set up your group (really simple – less than 3 minutes)


http://www.logomaker.com/

http://www.vistaprint.com/


Voila! You got your group ready - Congrats!

Post a welcome message and a few articles from your blog (or from your hard drive where they were collecting “dust”)… and/or links to a few of your youTube videos… or other valuable content


Get Members to Your Group

Invite your LinkedIn, FaceBook, Twitter, ect. connections to join you in your group

Put a short description of your group in your email signature and an invitation to join

Mention your group in your byline each time you publish an article online or offline

Mention it under your YouTube videos

Mention it in all forms of communication you use…

Have more ideas on how to attract more members to your group? Post them in the discussion box below…


Remember I said you needed a little “LUCK” to form a successful LinkedIn group…


INVITING TITLE

SUPPORTIVE ENVIRONMENT

ACTIVELY ATTRACT NEW MEMBERS

KEEP ‘EM ENGAGED

My LI “LUCK” Formula:


Keep Your Members Engaged and Active

Post insightful and engaging questions

Invite members to comment or ask follow-up questions

Invite them to training webinars

Reward most active members of the week

Stay visible and be generous with valuable information – it’s the shortest way into the hearts of the group members


There you have it! Get down to work and start growing your Tribe of 1000 True Followers (a.k.a. your list)… Follow all the LinkedIn strategies I shared with you and you can’t go wrong…


That’s it for today! I hope you found today’s tips useful. Please post your reaction, questions, comments in the comments section below…


Your assignment:Apply at least one strategy that you learned today and send me a link to your “campaign”


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linkedin client-attraction & lead-generation strategies

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